


price of pride

by stilinscry



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dogs, First Kiss, M/M, Third Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-30 00:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6400003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stilinscry/pseuds/stilinscry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kyoutani hasn't been turning up to monday practice and yahaba assumes the worst (he's wrong)</p>
            </blockquote>





	price of pride

**Author's Note:**

> kyoutani kentarou is a squishy puppy and i love him very much and i want everyone else to love him too okay

When Kyoutani fails to turn up to Monday practice for the third week in a row, it’s safe to say that Yahaba is pissed.

They’re both third years now, along with Watari, and they need to be role models to the younger years or they’re never gonna make it to nationals. Near the end of their second year Yahaba had thought that Kyoutani had actually begun to take club responsibilities more seriously but apparently that hasn’t carried through to the new school year.

Sure he turns up to all of the other practice sessions throughout the week, but that’s not the point. Kyoutani is a good player, he’s the ace for a reason, but by skipping out he’s not reaching his full potential and its pissing Yahaba off.

Yahaba might be a little harder than usual throughout practice but nobody mentions anything, and nobody brings up the whereabouts of Kyoutani either.

He plans to corner Kyoutani just before morning practice starts the next day but he turns up late, strolling in 10 minutes after practice has started like he hasn’t done anything wrong. Yahaba forces him to tidy up the equipment cupboard before he can start as punishment. The rest of the week passes by in a blur of stupid arguments and by Friday Kyoutani is so tired of Yahaba’s constant harassment that he doesn’t even bother staying behind for practice, instead going home like the rest of his classmates.

Monday comes again and Yahaba isn’t surprised when he watches Kyoutani walk straight out of the school gates instead of heading to the gym. He debates catching up with him and dragging him back but decides it’d just be a waste of his energy that should probably be spent on perfecting his serve for the practice match next week.

When he walks into the gym he shakes his head at Watari, who’s watching the door intently as if he expects Kyoutani to walk through it any moment now. Watari sighs before walking over to where Yahaba has gathered the first years, so that he can help with improving their reaction times. Whilst his eyes are observing how quickly they move and what their posture is like when they dive, Yahaba’s mind is brainstorming ways that he can sort out his whole ‘Kyoutani’ issue but he quickly comes up blank.

The next morning when he walks into the gym, he picks out Kyoutani’s signature stripes almost straight away and storms over to where he’s loitering near the net. Kyoutani turns round to face him before he can make it across the court and Yahaba freezes because _what the fuck?_ There’s a big cut stretching across Kyoutani’s left cheek, ending just next to his nose and it’s not the only one. His arms are covered in small red marks, almost as if he’d been scratched by something (or someone) and one of his knuckles is covered by a deep purple bruise. He looks like a thug, and Yahaba can’t help but feel sorry for the first years who must be fucking terrified.

“What the fuck happened to you Kyoutani,” Yahaba asks, unable to hide the worry in his voice. Kyoutani may be a pain in his ass but that doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to worry. “Did you get into a fight?”

Kyoutani visibly winces at his words and Yahaba thinks he might have sounded a bit accusatory when asking his question. “Yeah, something like that,” Kyoutani mutters in response, rubbing his bruised knuckles in the palm of his other hand. Yahaba opens his mouth to pry further but Kyoutani shoots him a glare that could kill and he backs off with his hands raised. Normally he’d push further, uncaring of how much he riled Kyoutani but it just doesn’t seem like the right time.

“As long as you can still play volleyball, it doesn’t matter,” he says over his shoulder, already walking over to Watari so that they can get practice started. He doesn’t need to look back to know that Kyoutani acknowledges what he says.

Yahaba tries not to think too much about Kyoutani’s state for the rest of the state but it’s like all other thoughts have been shoved from his mind. He finds himself zoning out in History, wondering just what the hell happened to Kyoutani. Maybe he’s in trouble with someone? What if he’s gotten himself involved with a gang? Yahaba can’t help but worry about what shit Kyoutani’s managed to get himself into.

If Iwaizumi was still here he’d know exactly how to sort it out, Kyoutani always listened to him, but he’s not and Yahaba knows that he doesn’t hold the same authority over Kyoutani as his senpai did.

The following Monday Yahaba does the only thing he can think to do. He lets Watari know that he’ll be in charge of practice because ‘something urgent came up’ and then he waits by the school gates until he sees Kyoutani leave. As Yahaba follows behind Kyoutani he reasons that he’s doing this for the good of the team, and not just because he’s nosy.

Yahaba starts to worry as the crowds of school kids start to disperse but Kyoutani turns onto a main street, in the direction of the city centre and he relaxes slightly. It’s not until he’s walking past shops and restaurants, eyes still glued on the back of Kyoutani’s head, that Yahaba think’s maybe his prior thinking had been wrong. There was no way Kyoutani was heading to any sort of gang hideout, in fact he was heading towards the nicer part of town.

Suddenly Kyoutani stops, and Yahaba struggles to hide himself in the flocks of people when Kyoutani turns round to check his surroundings before walking into whatever shop he stopped in front of. Yahaba lets a few seconds pass, before deciding that it’s safe to move and he carries on down the street to _finally_ find out what Kyoutani’s been hiding all this time.

 _Sendai Dog Shelter_ is definitely not what Yahaba is expecting. He can still see Kyoutani through the window, talking to the woman behind the helpdesk too casually for it to be his first time here and before Yahaba’s nerves can get the best of him he walks through the front door. Both Kyoutani’s and the receptionist’s eyes move to the door and Yahaba can hear the small hitch in Kyoutani’s breath before a frown is spreading across his face. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.

Yahaba pushes further still, until he’s standing next to Kyoutani at the counter and he’s begging to ask so many questions but the receptionist beats him to it. “Are you here to volunteer too?” she asks, and she looks so happy that Yahaba can’t help but nod. She makes him sign in just in case of an emergency and Yahaba can’t help but notice that nearly all of the other volunteer sessions on the sheet have been filled in by Kyoutani.

Before Yahaba can even give the receptionist her clipboard back Kyoutani is tugging him past the desk and down into the back room. As soon as they’re inside Yahaba is being shoved up against the wall by Kyoutani. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he snarls, and Yahaba knows that he should be scared but the close proximity just makes him feel kinda warm. “Did you follow me here you freak?”

“Fuck off okay, I was just worried,” Yahaba growls back and he watches as Kyoutani’s eyes widen. “What do you expect me to do when you turn up to practice looking like you’d been in some kind of gang fight? I just wanted to see if it was something I could help with, you dick.”

Kyoutani looks shocked at his words, like the idea of something actually worrying about him was impossible. He drops his grip on Yahaba’s shoulders and takes a few steps back, giving Yahaba the room to get away from the wall. Kyoutani’s mouth open and closes a few times, clearly stuck on what to say and Yahaba can’t help but laugh because it makes him look like a fish. Kyoutani frowns, but his posture relaxes and Yahaba can feel the tension leak out of the room.

“So, how long have you been volunteering here?” Yahaba asks as they walk through to where the dogs are kept. Kyoutani’s face lights up when the dogs start barking for him and it’s the most adorable thing Yahaba thinks he’s ever seen.

“It’s been so long, like a couple years I think,” Kyoutani replies, reaching his hand into one of the cages to pet an incredibly excitable Labrador. “When I adopted my dog, they mentioned to me that they were struggling with staff and I signed up to volunteer without thinking about it. A couple weeks ago, their funding got cut in like half so I offered to come and help in the week too.”

So that explains all the missed practices. Yahaba watches as Kyoutani cleans out the food and water bowls, refilling them as he goes. He stops to pet every single dog and Yahaba’s heart swells as the sight. “What about the cuts?” he asks, ducking down to pet the beagle that’s currently trying to nuzzle into his legs through the bars.

Kyoutani’s face drops at the question and Yahaba immediately regrets asking it. “One of the girls last week freaked out. She’d been ill for a while but we figured she’d make it longer than this. I went to get her out to take her for a walk and she just flipped. Doctor decided it was finally time for her to be put down.” Kyoutani clenches his fists by his side, before moving over to the cage where Yahaba is kneeling and dropping down beside him. “I might’ve punched the wall when they told me.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Yahaba says, smiling solemnly at Kyoutani. “I was such a dick to you at practice the next day as well, god dammit.” Guilt washes over him and he opens his mouth to say sorry again when suddenly there’s a pair of lips pressing against his own. It takes him a few seconds to realise what’s happening but his mind finally kicks into gear and he brings his hands up to wrap around Kyoutani’s neck just as he tries to pull away.

Kyoutani’s lips are surprisingly soft against his own and Yahaba whines when he pulls away sooner than he’d wanted. Their foreheads are pressed together and Yahaba can feel Kyoutani’s breath dusting over his lips and it’s everything he ever wanted this to be. He presses another chaste kiss against Kyoutani’s lips before pulling back. “We should probably finish up here,” he says and no matter how much Kyoutani wants to continue he knows that Yahaba’s right.

Together, they work through cleaning all of the cages and then take the dogs out for a half hour run in the park just next to the shelter. Yahaba can’t stop himself from smiling when Kyoutani grabs his hand as they finally leave the shelter 2 hours later and he waves goodbye to the receptionist as the door closes behind them. The walk home is silent, but it’s comfortable and Yahaba wants to know how long he’s been missing out on having this.

They pause when they get to Kyoutani’s house and Yahaba really doesn’t want to part ways, but he has to go home and finish all his homework for tomorrow. He also needs to text Watari but that’s a different story.

“I uh- I had fun today,” Kyoutani says, voice quiet as a sharp blush spreads across his cheeks.

“Yeah, me too,” he replies and he can’t stop himself from leaning in for another kiss. Kyoutani gently bites his lip and when Yahaba’s lips part to moan, Kyoutani takes it as his queue to slide his tongue against Yahaba’s. They kiss for a while, until Yahaba can feel himself starting to get hard and he pushes Kyoutani back a bit.

“Come over Friday?” Kyoutani asks, and he looks so wrecked just from some kissing. His lips are slick with Yahaba’s own spit and there’s a blush spreading down the side of his neck and it takes so much self-restraint for Yahaba to stop himself from just dragging Kyoutani all the way back to his house. “My mum isn’t home so it’d just be us.”

Yahaba blushes at the implications and nods in response. He presses one final kiss against Kyoutani’s lips before carrying on down the road to his house and if he skips all the way there it’s just because he’s happy, okay?

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in like an hour pls be nice to me
> 
> read my other haikyuu fics !! 
> 
> tweet me @aiichirous


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